FOWL PLAY

More than two years ago, 13 bald eagles were found dead on an Eastern Shore farm, leaving investigators puzzled as to the cause. According to a recent federal lab report, at least six birds had ingested carbofuran, a highly toxic pesticide that is lethal to birds and banned from the U.S. market.

Carbofuran was said to have been the primary cause of eagle death in the late 1980s, leading to their designation as an endangered species and causing the EPA to ban its granular form in the mid-1990s, followed by its liquid form in 2009. In the past, farmers have received fines for using the substance to kill nuisance animals in an effort to their livestock as they inadvertently killed eagles and other birds of prey that fed on the carcasses. Some within the illegal marijuana industry have also used the substance as a rodenticide. In the case of the Maryland deaths, the source of the carbofuran is still unknown, though most of the birds had recently ingested raccoon, which itself might have been poisoned. As federally protected wildlife, killing one bald eagle is punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of $250,000 in the United States.

Once almost extinct, bald eagles are considered one of the greatest conservation success stories, having made a major comeback since the 1980s. The Chesapeake Bay region is home to the largest concentration of bald eagles in the lower 48 states.

BAY COMEBACK
For the first time in 33 years, the Chesapeake Bay’s health has shown signs of improvement in every region. In mid-June, officials from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., announced that the estuary is headed towards a full recovery despite its overall grade remains a C, due to particularly troubled areas like the Patuxent, Patapsco, and York rivers. Seven out of 15 regions have shown significantly improved health, while none declined. Officials and scientists have awarded credit to the 15-year, $19-billion restoration plan mandated by the Obama administration in 2010 and administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, in which watershed states—also including Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York—have agreed to decrease farm runoff and improve wastewater treatment facilities, among other efforts, by 2025. The Trump administration has cut the plan’s funding by 90 percent in 2019, but state support for the initiative remains strong.

CRAB CRISIS CONTINUES
This spring, U.S. immigrant worker visas were awarded by lottery for the first time, compared to a previous first-come, first-served system, leaving Maryland’s seafood industry with a drought of seasonal workers who primarily hail from Mexico. In early June, following an outcry from local seafood businesses and a request from Gov. Hogan, U.S. immigration officials approved additional visas for one of Maryland’s multiple crab picking houses, which are said to be missing an estimated 35 percent of their summer workforce. Industry experts say this new strategy and its subsequent visa shortage puts the fate of Maryland crab houses in a dangerous position. As previously reported, it could also lead to an increased price for picked meat, due to a decreased supply, doubled with a decreased price for steamed crabs, due to a surplus of hard shells that would have otherwise been picked.

CONTESTED CLEANUP
In May, Maryland environmental regulators required the owner of the Conowingo Dam to increase its efforts to reduce pollution that flows from the Susquehanna River into the Chesapeake Bay. In response, the company, Exelon Corporation, filed two lawsuits against the state in June, stating that it shouldn’t be held responsible for abating all of the trash and excess nutrients (including nitrogen and phosphorus, which reduce clarity, cause algae blooms, and decrease oxygen levels in local waters) that build up at the end of the 464-mile river. The Susquehanna is considered the primary source of nutrient pollution in the main portion of the Chesapeake Bay, and this spring, above-average rains carried more than 85 million pounds of nitrogen from its waterway into the bay. With the dam at full capacity, local environmentalists fear that this refusal threatens the progress of the estuary’s multi-state restoration strategy.

ALL THAT TRASH

Maryland residents are throwing too much trash into their recycling containers, with as much as one third of those materials now ending up in a landfill or incinerator. According to a recent Sun report, this “aspirational recycling” or “wishcycling” practice—aka throwing unrecyclable goods in with your recyclable cardboard, plastic, and glass—is causing the worth of Baltimore recycling to decrease, as a ton of local recycling was sold for $112 in 2011 compared to $33 today, while also costing the city money to process and get rid it. Recycling education resources are available for city and county residents.

AIR APPARENT
Baltimore is considered one of the 10 worst U.S. cities for air quality, according to a new study issued by the Environment Maryland Research & Policy Center. In 2016, about 2.8 million people in the Baltimore region experience 114 days in which at least half of air quality monitoring stations measured “moderate” or worse for elevated ozone and/or particulate levels, which can increase the risk of negative health impacts, from coughing, wheezing, and asthma to congestive heart failure. Despite its notoriously bad traffic, the Washington, D.C., Arlington, and Alexandria area had fewer days of elevated air pollution than Baltimore, Columbia, and Towson.

Clean Air Partners, a new public-private partnership in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., has recently launched a summer-long “Breathe Easy” campaign to increase awareness about the effect of air quality on public health. Their recommendations include using public transit or carpooling, turning off electronics when not in use, cleaning HVA filters each month, and using a gas or electric grill in place of charcoal. They also offer a Clean Air Partners app to track daily air quality levels in and around Baltimore.

“The ‘water year’ begins October 1. That’s when water use drops after the periods of higher use from late spring through summer, meaning precipitation can go toward replenishing the water supply,” explains Jay Apperson, the deputy director of communications for MDE. “Snow that gradually melts into the ground is particularly good for recharging groundwater.” The Baltimore region has recorded 5.79 inches of precipitation thus far in 2017, 2.07 inches fewer than average. The drought warning triggers more frequent testing and evaluation by the MDE, and Maryland Secretary of the Environment Ben Grumbles says, “Water conservation and efficiency are always smart—especially during extended periods of reduced rainfall.”

Field Notes is a monthly roundup of environmental news from around the area. If you have a story you’d like considered for a future Field Notes, email mamy@baltimoremagazine.net. Put “Field Notes Suggestion” in the subject line.

Bay Watch

When is a C- a cause for celebration? When we’re talking about the Chesapeake Bay’s health grade. Late last week, the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation released its report on the bay’s overall health in 2016, granting the estuary its highest grade since the foundation began issuing reports in 1998.

The report divides data into three main categories—pollution, habitat, and fisheries—then grades various indicators within each category to calculate an overall score out of a possible 100 points. This year’s overall score was a 34, which equates, in this specially weighted grading system, to a C-.

Except for a slight decrease in the amount of forested buffers, the bay showed improvement or remained steady across all sectors. Especially notable is the 10-point jump in the health of the blue crab population and the continued hardiness of the rockfish population, which garnered an A-, the scorecard’s highest individual grade.

But while things have improved, there is still a long way to go to reach that 100-point A+ (which would be like restoring the bay to how it was in the 1600s). Particularly troubling are the pollution scores, with nitrogen and phosphorus levels still earning F and D grades, respectively. (Excess nitrogen and phosphorus contribute to algae blooms that block sunlight and create dead zones in the bay. Certain algal blooms can be toxic to humans and pets, as well.)

The largest sources of nitrogen and phosphorus are agriculture runoff (particularly chicken manure and fertilizers), car and power plant emissions, sewage plant discharges, and suburban and urban stormwater runoff. Attempts to curtail the nitrogen and phosphorus runoff have resulted in controversial measures such as the Bay Restoration Fee (the so-called “flush tax”) and the much-maligned Stormwater Utility Fee (aka the “rain tax”).

But along with a suite of other actions that have been folded into a federally coordinated multi-state initiative called the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint, there is a view that the oft-maligned fees are having a positive effect.

“We believe the Bay is reaching a tipping point,” the report’s introduction states. “As this report shows, the evidence is there. We are seeing the clearest water in decades, regrowth of acres of lush underwater grass beds, and the comeback of the Chesapeake’s native oysters, which were nearly eradicated by disease, pollution, and overfishing. . . . The bottom line is our report provides hope and promise for the future.”

Full report here.

So, That Was Christmas

And what have you done? Left your tree in the corner, dropping needles by the ton.

Don’t worry, Baltimore City Department of Public Works will be collecting Christmas trees with your regularly scheduled trash pickup throughout the rest of January (excluding Monday, January 16, because of Martin Luther King holiday). All tinsel and ornaments must be removed before pickup. Or, if you want to divert your tree from the landfill and turn it into free mulch for future garden projects, bring it to the the Southwest Citizens’ Convenience Center at 701 Reedbird Ave. in South Baltimore, Monday through Saturday (excluding the MLK holiday), from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Residents should bring their own containers for the mulch. DPW also would like to remind everyone that wrapping paper and many packaging materials are eligible for standard curbside recycling. An extensive list of recycleable items can be found here.

Baltimore County is also collecting old Christmas trees, beginning this week. Detailed instructions can be found here.

Anne Arundel County regulations can be found here.

Howard County runs a free mulch program similar to Baltimore City’s, as well as curbside pickup and recycling drop-off. Details are here.

Legislative Briefing

Last week, Gov. Larry Hogan announced his environmental priorities for the 2017 session of the Maryland General Assembly, which starts Wednesday at noon and lasts for 90 days.

Hogan wants to spend $65 million over three years on a variety of programs that focus on “targeted investments and market-based solutions to protect and preserve Maryland’s environment and natural resources.”

Forty-one million of the $65 million he has earmarked comes from a 2012 settlement with Exelon Corp. and must be invested in Tier 1 renewable energy projects. (Tier 1 renewables include solar, wind, and certain biomass and waste-to-energy methods.)

The rest of the $65 million would be distributed among four initiatives: increased tax credits and rebates for electric cars and charging stations, a $3 million investment in the state’s green jobs-training program, $7.5 million for a new clean-energy startup incubator at the University of Maryland, and up to $10 million in funding for a pollution credit-trading program.

But as The Sun pointed out in a recent editorial, those pet projects might not get much traction in the Democratic-controlled legislature. Instead, the General Assembly might focus on its own green agenda, which includes possibly overriding Gov. Hogan’s veto of a measure that would have boosted the state’s required quota of Tier 1 renewable energy from 20 percent to 25 percent by 2020. The legislature and the governor are also due for a reckoning about hydraulic fracturing, aka fracking. The controversial practice, in which a solution of water and chemicals is blasted into bedrock to release deposits of natural gas, is under a moratorium in the state while officials investigated its potential environmental impact. (It has been implicated in water and air pollution, as well as drilling-induced earthquakes.) But the ban expires this year and Hogan and the legislature will need to decide whether or not to allow it and, if so, how strictly it should be regulated.

Energy Star

Kudos to Columbia’s Wilde Lake Middle School. When the newly constructed school opened last week, it did so as the state’s first “net-zero energy” school. This means that, over the course of a year, the $33 million building will generate as much energy as it uses. The energy efficiency is achieved through both low-tech and high-tech means. There’s the school’s 2,000 solar panels, geothermal heating system, and lights that automatically dim when conditions are sunny.

But, as Scott Washington, the Director of School Construction for the Howard County Public School System, said in a video update on the project this fall, “Number one is the building orientation and envelope. That means how the building is situated on the site, as well as the envelope that the building is made out of—the roof structure, the wall structure, how insulated they are.”

The school also boasts an “energy kiosk” in the main hallway, which allows students to see, in real time, how much energy the building is using and generating. The school replaces the 48-year-old Wilde Lake school, which will be razed to make room for new playing fields and a bus loop.

Great Vertical

Time to add another entry into the city’s ever-growing register of urban farms.

Last month, a trio of organizations led by a Canadian agriculture technology companysigned a letter of intent to start a vertical farming operation in East Baltimore. The triumvirate is led by a Canadian agriculture technology company Arcturus Growthstar Technologies Inc., which procured financial backing from the Columbia-based venture capital firm CBO Financial to lease 25,000 square feet of indoor space from the local nonprofit Volunteers of America Chesapeake. The farm will grow greens like lettuce, basil, oregano, and cilantro in a climate-controlled environment and will offer agriculture job training to ex-offenders participating in Volunteers of America Chesapeake’s workforce re-entry program.

The $6 million project joins other agriculture and food system-related ventures popping up throughout East Baltimore. In the parking lot of the American Brewery building, another vertical farm, Urban Pastoral, grows greens in a LED-light-laden shipping container. Down the road, Walker Marsh raises cut flowers for market at Tha Flower Factory, a half-acre parcel where vacant rowhomes once stood. And in late September, the long-awaited Baltimore Food Hub broke ground at its 3.5-acre site at the corner of East Oliver and North Wolfe streets. The $23.5 million project, spearheaded by American Communities Trust and local workforce nonprofit Humanin, will eventually host job-training facilities, communal incubator space, and an excess of land to be dedicated to urban farming.

This information
is correct as of February 2014, but is subject to change at any time. We
recommend visiting each area’s recycling website for the latest information and
contacting a representative for further questions.

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY

www.aacounty.org/DPW/WasteManagement/‎

PAPER: milk & juice cartons/boxes; cardboard; boxes (cereal,
cracker, frozen food, shoe, pizza, etc.); books (hard- and soft-cover); sheets
of paper; newspaper & inserts; junk mail; magazines & catalogs;
file
folders; envelopes

METAL: aluminum foil & pans;aluminum cans; tin/steel cans; empty aerosol cans; wire hangers

PLASTIC: plastic bags & shrink wrap (secure in
plastic bag); plastic cups, plates, utensils; plastic buckets;storage
totes;
plastic flower pots; plastic hangers & furniture; trashcans & old recycling
containers;
plastic toys, pools
& playsets;bottles, jars, jugs,
tubs & trays.

GLASS: bottles, jars, and almost all glass containers of any color

NOT ACCEPTED: Ammunition, asbestos, ashes, auto parts,
building & construction material, compressed gas tanks, dead animals, drum
containers, explosives/firearms, fluorescent tubes and bulbs, liquids
(including paint), medical waste, poisons, acids, sawdust, tires, wood &
lumber.

ELECTRONICS (excluding TV/computer monitors): At any
recycling center

BALTIMORE CITY

publicworks.baltimorecity.gov/Recycling.aspx

Recyclable Materials Accepted at Curbside
Pick-up
:

• Aerosol Cans (empty)
• Aluminum: cans, beverage and food containers, foil (clean), and pie
  pans
• Books: hardbound, paperback and textbooks
• Bottles: narrow-neck bottles used for food liquids, soap, soda or
  water— (lightly clean if heavily soiled)
• Cardboard and paperboard boxes corrugated boxes, egg containers, food
  boxes (including cereal boxes), frozen food packaging, mailing boxes, and
  oversized boxes
• Cartons (waxed): used for a liquid such as juices, milk or
  soups
• Glass containers such as bottles and jars (please rinse)
• Juice Boxes (clean)
• Mail: envelopes with plastic windows
• Metal: beverage and food containers
• Paper (all colors and types): catalogs, folders, junk mail, magazines,
  mixed paper, newsprint (all types), non-metallic wrapping paper, office papers,
  printer paper, school papers and shredded paper
• Plastic: bottles and jars with symbols #1 through #7 (narrow neck
  and screw top—lightly clean if heavily soiled) -e.g., detergent/bleach bottles,
  juice bottles, milk jugs, soda bottles, water bottles. Containers with symbols
  #1 through #7 (wide-mouthed—lightly clean if heavily soiled) -e.g., cottage
  cheese, margarine, mayonnaise, sour cream and yogurt (caps and labels o.k.).
  Drinking cups and prescription bottles, including lids and caps.
• Steel: beverage containers and food (scrap metal is not accepted
  for curbside Recycle Pick-up, but may be recycled at our
• Tin: cans and foil

Unacceptable
Recycling Material:

• Carry out or deli food containers
• Cat litter
• Chemicals
• Cookware and plates (plastic)
• Containers of toxic substances -e.g., bottles, cans motor
  oil, pesticides, etc.
• Contaminated paper products -e.g., napkins, paper towels, waxed
  paper, paper plates and tissue
• Contaminated plastic products -e.g., plates, utensils, cookware,
  to-go cartons
• Dry-cleaning bags
• Food Waste
• Furniture of any kind
• Glass (window and mirror)
• Paint and paint cans
• Plastic bags including grocery and newspaper covers
• Utensils (plastic)
• Waxed paper
• Styrofoam

ELECTRONICS (excluding TVs and monitors): At Citizen Drop-Off Centers

BALTIMORE COUNTY

www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/publicworks/rec…

PAPER & CARDBOARD: newspapers, magazines, phone books,
catalogs, books, writing & computer paper, mail, paperboard (cereal, frozen
food, shoeboxes), cardboard (flattened), milk cartons, juice boxes.

NOT ALLOWED: paper/cardboard covered by wax, plastic,
or food; facial tissues, napkins, paper towels, foil gift-wrap.

METAL & GLASS: aluminum & steel food and beverage
cans, empty aerosol cans, aluminum foil, aluminum pie pans, glass bottles,
jars.

NOT ALLOWED: propane cylinders, pots & pans, scrap
metal, dishes & cookware, ceramics, drinking glasses, light bulbs, mirrors,
crystal.

PLASTIC: narrow-neck plastic bottles & jugs, wide-mouth plastic
containers (e.g. butter, cottage cheese, peanut butter, yogurt containers),
rigid plastics (e.g. buckets, drinking cups, flower pots, kiddie pools, toys,
etc.)

NOT ALLOWED: plastic bags, Styrofoam, “clam shells”
(salad containers, packaging for toys & batteries), CD jewel cases, motor
oil containers, VHS tapes.

ELECTRONICS (excluding TVs and monitors): @ Drop-off
facilities

CARROLL COUNTY

ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/recycle/

ACCEPTED: glass jars & bottles, aluminum/tin/steel cans &
containers, foil, cereal and other paperboard boxes, cardboard, aseptic and
gable top containers, books, plastic bags (bagged together), plastic bottles
#1-7, magazines and catalogs, newspapers, office paper, junk mail, plastic
tubs, wide-mouth containers, paper bags

NOT ACCEPTED: Styrofoam, electronics, ceramics/dishes,
food waste, motor oil containers, household hazardous waste, light bulbs,
window glass, mirrors, clamshell containers, batteries.

HARFORD COUNTY

www.harfordcountymd.gov/dpw/envaffairs/

PAPER: newspapers, magazines, phone books, greeting cards, paper
bags, gift wrap, catalogs, books, writing & computer paper, mail,
paperboard (cereal, frozen food, shoeboxes), corrugated cardboard, milk
cartons, juice boxes.

NOT ALLOWED: paper towels/tissues, used paper
plates/cups, foil giftwrap, waxed/laminated paper, food-contaminated boxes,
pizza boxes.

PLASTIC: narrow-neck plastic bottles & jugs (e.g. milk, water,
detergent, salad dressing, cooking oil, shampoo, liquid oil, spray products,
etc.), wide-mouth plastic containers (e.g. butter, cottage cheese, peanut
butter, yogurt containers), rigid plastics (e.g. buckets, drinking cups, flower
pots, kiddie pools, toys, lawn furniture, plastic coolers, trash cans, laundry
baskets, etc.)

NOT ALLOWED: polystyrene (Styrofoam) inserts &
packing peanuts, cutlery (forks, knives, spoons), bags or sheeting, CD jewel
cases, motor oil bottles, pesticide or solvent bottles, VHS tapes, plastic
electronics (alarm clocks, coffee maker, etc.) piping, vinyl siding.

METAL & GLASS: aluminum & steel food and beverage
cans, empty aerosol cans, aluminum foil, aluminum pie pans, glass bottles,
jars.

NOT ALLOWED: propane cylinders, pots & pans, scrap
metal, dishes & cookware, ceramics, drinking glasses, light bulbs, mirrors,
crystal, metal lawn chairs, window glass.

HOWARD
COUNTY

www.howardcountymd.gov/recycling.htm

PAPER: drink boxes, milk cartons, newspaper and inserts, paper,
food/snack boxes, books, cards, non-foil gift wrap, catalogs, magazines, junk
mail, phone books, bagged shredded paper, three-ring binders, cardboard
(flattened to less than 4’ x 6’)

NOT ALLOWED: paper towels, tissues, napkins, soiled
plates, foil gift wrap, ice cream containers, wax paper, laminated paper,
non-tear papers

PLASTIC bottles, tubs, jars, trays, disposable cups and plates,
flower pots, toys, buckets, bundled plastic bags

NOT ALLOWED: Styrofoam (take to Alpha Ridge), plastic
clam shells, jewel cases, CDs or DVDs, motor oil or pesticide bottles, VHS
tapes, plastic electronics, juice pouches, crinkly wrappers from snacks and
chips, , beach or lawn chairs

CANS: aluminum/steel cans, empty aerosol cans, aluminum foil, pie
and cake pans

NOT ALLOWED: propane cylinders, pots and pans, scrap
metal

GLASS: bottles, jars

NOT ALLOWED: window glass, drinking glasses, mirrors,
ceramics, crystal, cookware, light bulbs